Southern Wisconsin lawmaker Brooks retires, cites health

MADISON, Wis. — A southern Wisconsin lawmaker is calling it quits after a decade in the Legislature.

Rep. Ed Brooks announced Tuesday he won't seek re-election in November. Brooks has represented the 50th Assembly District since 2009. The district includes parts of Juneau, Sauk, Richland and Monroe counties.

The 75-year-old Town of Reedsburg Republican said that he needs to concentrate on keeping his leukemia in remission.

Brooks is the 13th legislator and the 10th Republican to decide not to seek re-election this year.

San Francisco prosecutors said Thursday that they will not charge officers in two shooting deaths, including the killing of a black man that led to citywide protests three years ago and federally recommended police reforms.

U.S. stocks finished mostly lower Thursday as energy companies skidded along with oil prices. The market dropped after President Donald Trump said he canceled a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but recovered most of those losses.

In a forceful rebuke to President Donald Trump and other Washington Republicans, former Vice President Joe Biden told fellow Democrats in New York on Thursday that the GOP has abandoned traditional American values in the name of "phony populism" and "fake nationalism."

More than two dozen proposed laws sparked by the sexual abuse scandal involving Larry Nassar sailed through the Michigan House on Thursday, including bills that would grant childhood sex assault victims more time to sue and require athletic trainers to report suspected abuse.